Things happen in life that make people question if God is with us. Why would He allow unpleasant things to happen? Zachariah, a viewer from Egypt, was beaten and kicked out of his home when his father found out that he had proclaimed Jesus as his Savior.
During a time when his immediate family and village members showed him hate, Zachariah was forced to move away from everything he knew to live with family in an unfamiliar place. He shared, “I was severely beaten after I professed Christ, and I was hated by the village where I lived because I attended an Evangelical church in a nearby town. I was kicked out of my house and went to live with my aunt. She was married far away from my town. There I lived broken and strange, looking for work so as not to be a burden on her. I cried myself to sleep many nights, and that led me to a feeling of remorse for believing in Christ. I had no idea that I would live carrying this inner pain because I put my faith in Christ and read the Bible.”
Many Christians face persecution in countries that do not accept Christianity. Despite being brave and outwardly professing his belief in Christ, Zachariah began having doubts about his faith.
However, God had a plan for his life that surprised Zachariah. He said, “By divine coincidence, I met a minister from another university. I attended a four-day event and joined a discipleship group in a Baptist Church. It was then that I learned some things for the first time—things I had not known about God, the Bible, or Christ. I experienced being filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time and cried with joy, not pain. I began to find someone to provide me with financial and spiritual assistance through a brother who found out about my challenges and supported me financially to help with my college expenses. I thank God for him.”
He was forced to leave the home that he knew. It was scary. However, that was just the first step in Zachariah’s life that led him to where he is today. Zachariah shared, “At a revival meeting, I met a minister who prayed and said, ‘I see you being used in God’s work through translation and interpretation services for non-Egyptian Christian ministers.’ I laughed at his words and did not believe him.”
Now, Zachariah serves as an interpreter for foreigners sharing the Gospel with Egyptians. “God has used me to interpret before thousands, and in the near future, foreigners are coming to our town and will preach for two days. We are expecting to see four thousand souls being led to Christ.”
Zachariah’s life turned out to be more than he expected. When he believed that his faith cost him his life, God had a plan for him that outweighed his fears.
Please pray for viewers like Zachariah to come to know Christ and live a life that is beautifully planned by God.
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*All viewer names have been changed and viewer images are representative only.
